Do Not Confirm Sam Clovis to a Top Governmental Science Position

President Donald Trump has nominated Sam Clovis to be the Department of Agriculture's undersecretary of research, education and economics, the USDA's top science position.

One problem: Clovis has been a lot of things - a Trump loyalist, a terrorism scaremongerer and a rightwing radio host - but he's never been a scientist. With absolutely no background in science or even agriculture for that matter, he's completely wrong for this position.

In fact, congressional rules stipulate that the USDA undersecretary needs to be a "distinguished scientist" with agriculutral experience. Whether or not the GOP majority in the senate agrees with the White House's anti-science agenda, even they should acknolwedge that being blindly partisan and confirming Clovis would break their own rules in this case. 

We need scientists in science positions in the White House. Reject Clovis.